Battery Power After the Collapse

Maha Powerex Multi-Charger

Being a huge fan of PACE planning and having redundancies for solutions to survival problems, I have a good supply of rechargeable batteries (both NiMH and NiCD types) and chargers. Some of these are the cheap versions from Lowe's or Home Depot, but my newest charger is the Maha Powerex Multi-Charger which can recharge AAA, AA, C and D sized batteries. The several versions of AAA and AA chargers I have will also be used but give me a barter capacity as I believe many people in a collapse will have not thought about batteries for their vast array of battery powered equipment including radios and flashlights.

Click To Purchase

What I have yet to buy are re-chargeable CR123 3v, also known as Surefire Batteries, and a recharger for these batteries. While I have many Surefire flashlights, which are the best and brightest (considering lumen power) on the market, they are also power hungry so I have intentionally focused my flashlight and lantern procurement on AA power lights.

There is one more portable power tool that I'll be adding soon, and that is the Batteriser which reportedly extends batteries up to 8x longer.

Click Here to read the Yahoo article and watch the video.

The article I was reading stated that it did sound too good to be true, but this new $2.50 gadget promises to bring your AA and C batteries back from the dead.

The article continues,...."You might be skeptical, but the Silicon Valley startup says it’s simply been able to take advantage of a well-known downside of standard batteries. The tiny device works by tapping into the unused energy in a regular Duracell or Eveready. A normal AA or C cell is designed to deliver a steady 1.5 volts, but as the power is depleted the voltage will drop. Once it slips too low, your TV remotes and toys and other devices will stop working. The Batteriser has boost circuitry that will boost the voltage from 0.6 volts to 1.5 volts and will maintain voltage at 1.5—which is a brand new battery.”

Apparently the physics department of San Jose State University also reviewed the Batteriser. “We tested the Batteriser sleeve in our lab and we confirmed that the Batteriser taps into 80 percent of energy that is usually thrown away,” said the university’s Dr. Kiumars Parvin in a statement given to PC World.

So what plans have you made for battery power after the collapse. Remember that in the beginnings or a collapse, much like a natural disaster,. food, bottled water and batteries are the first things that fly off the shelves. Besides who wants to put money into storing one use batteries?

Urban Man

Equipment and Material Questions from Survivalists

I routinely receive singular questions from readers so it has been my practice to save them up, the ones I don't answer via e-mail, and post them with my comments.

1. "Have you seen or tasted Survival Tabs? Are you stocking Survival Tabs as part of your food supply or Bug Out bag?"

UrbanMan's reply: Short answer is no. I haven't seen Survival Tabs since we tested them circa 1984. Great idea, to carry 15 days of survival food in a plastic tub that will fit into a one quart canteen carrier - they even come with a plastic bag so you can transfer the survival tabs into the bag and use the plastic tub as a water canteen, BUT the key point here is that they taste like crap. Again, no, I do not have any Survival Tabs, nor will I be buying any. I have soup mixes, granola bars, nuts, and small food packets for my Bug Out bags.

2. "I did not see you list bandage scissors in your medical kit recommendations. The primary use for bandage scissors is to cut the clothes, such as pants, off of patients to address the wounds and injuries. Do you advocate using a seat belt cutter instead of scissors?"

UrbanMan's reply: I'm not going to go back and check, but every kit I have has either the common bandage scissor, surgical scissors and/or a multi-tool with scissors. Scissors of many types belong in the preppers stocks. From first aids needs, to harvesting vegetables to dressing game - scissors are valuable. The latest and greatest medical scissors will be shortly offered from Leatherman, the creator of the original Multi-tool. Their new product is called the Leatherman Raptor. I got my hands on one a few months ago and this is gem with the standard shears and includes a glass breaker, strap and ring cutter and even a wrench for oxygen tanks. I will be buying at least two of these when they are offered hopefully in May 2013.


3. "I do not have a flint and steel fire starter. I don't see the need if one has boxes of lighters, regular and storm matches."

UrbanMan's reply: Fair enough. I will continue to keep my several magnesium flint and steel fire starters. I also have boxes of matches, cases of MRE's with matvches in the accessory pack, bags of Bic lighters and even a couple fancy storm lighters with can be replaced with fuel. Magnesium starts last a long, long time. My way is to use them wherever I can, saving the lighters and matches. My boxes of regular and stick matches are mainly for barter, but I have enough Bic lighters to trade one where and there if/when the collapse hits and commodities barter replace precious metals to a large extent as we transition to a straight barter soceity. Consider PACE planning, that is Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency measures in all aspects of your collapse survival plan, from material and food supplies, to firearms, to route planning and Bug Out plans and yes even to fire starting. So come on get yourself a megnesium fire starter - you'll enjoy starting fires feeling like Grizzly Adams!

I re-learned a lesson just the other day on the importance of PACE plan planning . PACE, of course, stands for “Primary, Alternative, Contingency and Emergency” or otherwise just an acronym to remember to have contingency plans. The idea is to have an alternate method of plan to immediately (and hopefully seamlessly) transition to when the primary plan cannot be executed. Much like carrying a rifle and a handgun, if the rifle runs dry or has a malfunction, the shooter can transition to the handgun, often times, much quicker than resolving an empty rifle or malfunction.

The lesson I learned was in route planning. I work in an office close to the heart of the city. I have a 26 mile drive (21 miles line of sight) to get from my suburban home to work. Like a lot of people going to and from work each day, I have alternate routes based on any construction or traffic delays, but in my survivalist mindset these are also Bug Out Routes.

I fully understand that a catastrophic event like a nuclear attack or terrorist strike, or industrial accident like a train wreck releasing toxic chemicals, or some crazy government announcement could cause a mass migration effect from the city and block even the highest speeds avenues of approach (the road network).

I have analyzed my routes and the chokepoints be they bridges, four lanes going to two lanes, intersections around Wal-marts, etc., that could be clogged up with panicked people and all sorts of possibilities.

The “E” of my Bug Out Route PACE plan is moving on foot. Twenty One miles carrying my “all the time” Bug Out bag and bits and pieces of kit from my supplemental bag in my trunk. In a perfect world, I could easily make this trek in seven to eight hours. If I have to bypass crowds or identified threats, or hunker down to let threats by-pass me then this journey could take over night. In fact, there would be some situations where using the cover of darkness may be preferable. I carry two cell phones, one from work and the other a personal cell phone, and a FRS radio in my Bug Out Bag so I can keep my people informed of my progress.

So, back to the lesson I learned,.....several days ago I left work to find traffic backed up bumper to bumper for miles. The radio said there was a massive accident involving a tractor-trailer and several cars. As I was mentally planning to access an alternate route I also heard on the radio that were accidents at locations which would have blocked off my access to these routes. I could have just sat in traffic waiting for the accident to clear and later I found out that it would have been a 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, and as it was I thought “jeez, now I have found some holes in my route planning,…who would have thought there was a possibility of accidents blocking all my planned route, but then again these accidents could have just as easily been a mass of people leaving the city.”

Then I thought “what if this was one of those collapse events and I would absolutely need to get home”, what would I do? I briefly thought about parking the car, grabbing my BOB and heading out on foot. There was no threat and it would be good to rehearse this plan, but I really needed to find an alternate route as of yet unknown to me. I remembered an medical office building construction site, adjacent to a park which was adjacent to a golf course.

I ended up taking that route,..was able to navigate over a couple curbs in my vehicle and eventually accessed the gold course parking lot then a suburban street which lead around all the wrecks on the main avenues. I called my wife and had her turn on our FRS base station and tested my FRS hand held at intervals back to my house, until I was about 400 yards from my house when I eventually made commo with her. I have made an intentionally decision not to routinely carry one of our VHF radios, but now may have to re-look that.

An additional benefit from determining a new vehicle route on the fly is that this route now becomes my primary foot route as it provides more cover and concealment, and hole-ups places. Not to mention water sources at both the park and golf course. My lesson learned from all this to practice what I preach,…..develop a PACE plan AND rehearse the damn thing to determine possible holes and necessary changes.

Be Prepared to Bug In

In the previous post I wrote about the necessity of having a Survival Bug Out Plan which will define your Bug Out Bag requirements. In fact the Bug Out Plan should be modeled using PACE planning principles. PACE - Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency, is simply a principle to address several ways to accomplish the same objective.

PACE can be applied to Survival equipment, such as fire starting tools for example. How many of you only have one lighter, or one magnesium fire starter? I would bet that most of us have a bunch of these very necessary tools. Apply PACE to a Survival Bug Out Plan and you would have several different routes and different safe locations to Bug Out to. This plan may also include meeting places (called Rally Points or linkup points) where members of your family or Survival Group can link up if separated during movement, or if Bugging Out from different start points.

Yet again, I end up write paragraphs until finally beginning my main point which is do not place all your planning and preparation on immediately Bugging Out. Imagine the guy who has a rifle, a Bug Out and visualization on Bugging Out and looters and mobs, but has not place to go and no planned route to get there. I know several people like that, Some of them write to me as well.

What if circumstances based on the threat situation, martial law, missing survival group members, weather conditions, injuries or sickness or a host of other reasons makes it necessary to remain in your residence until it is safe to execute your Survival Bug Out Plan to your Safe Location?

Hopefully, your entire Survival Plan is NOT dependent upon grabbing your BOB and rifle and skedalling. Imagine a group of looters camping in your block,...think about what you would need to remain in your residence before the coast is clear. Defensive measures, food and water stocks, waste management, power and light sources are all categories to think about and plan for.

How are you going to blackout your residence so outsiders do not see the light from your lantern or flashlight? What are you going to do if you look out the window and see four, shot out flat tires on your vehicle which you planned on taking to a friends farm and therefore safe location 200 miles away?

Do you have enough food and water for a few weeks (or maybe even longer) to wait out the situation until it is possible to Bug Out?
Do you have escape routes, other than your front door, in case you cannot defend the residence and are forced to evacuate? What about a fire? Molotov cocktails are easy to make and if looters cannot get to you they may try to burn you out.

Anyway, to be complete, think about situations and circumstances that may force you to stay when you otherwise detailed Survival Bug Out Plan is to go immediately.